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ICT NEWSLETTER
Cyber Ethics
Cyber-ethics is the discipline of using appropriate and ethical behaviors and acknowledging moral duties and obligations pertaining to online environments and digital media. Here are some ethical cyber tips to consider: Demonstrate appropriate strategies for avoiding plagiarism (e.g., quoting, citing, acknowledging source and/or paraphrasing). Make informed choices about acceptable use of technology, technology systems, digital media, and information technology when confronted with usage dilemmas. Exhibit responsibility and Netiquette (i.e., appropriate digital communication skills)when communicating digitally. Understand that content posted to the Web or sent through other digital means (e.g., cell phone or camera) is accessible to a wide audience and can be permanently archived. Demonstrate and advocate for ethical and legal behaviors among peers, family, and community.
ECTEL Celebrates 15 Years The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority began its 15th Anniversary celebration on
May 11, 2015 with a two day conference at the Bay Gardens Resort, Gros Islet, Rodney Bay St.
Lucia.
The Theme of the conference was “Committed to Broadband and Open Access in a Digital
World”. Topics that were addressed during the two-day event included Broadband Development
in the Caribbean; Contributions and Obligations of Service Providers to Broadband and ICT
policies and plans; Regional Collaboration in Broadband and Open Access; Broadband and
Internet Neutrality and the vision for ICT in the OECS. OECS Ministers as well as other regional
and international telecommunications delegates were in attendance. The Fifteenth Anniversary
Conference coincided with the ECTEL Council of Ministers Meeting, on May 13, 2015.
Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony was the feature Speaker at the Opening Ceremony
on Monday, May 11, 2015. During his remarks, the Prime Minister honoured those he described
as “warriors of liberalization” for fighting and toiling for the formation of ECTEL and reflected on
the journey to achieving the liberalization of the telecommunications industry.
During the conference, there were various speakers from the region including, Mr. Apollo
Knights, Director of NTRC, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Mr. Knights spoke on the topic
“Emerging Technologies & Services, Opportunities and Challenges. Mr. Knights said the current
state of technology is cloud and software driven in this era where there is more network
connectivity. He indicated these emerging technologies bring challenges to service providers in
supporting these technologies. On closing his presentation, Mr. Knights gave the following
points as recommendations on the way forward:
We have to make change a routine task just like annual budgets in our institutions.
We need to involve, educate and empower the youth within an enabling environment of
relevant resources and have them provide the disruption.
We need regional and national Broadband plans as soon as possible.
ECTEL was established on May 4, 2000 by Treaty signed in St. George’s, Grenada by the
Governments of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and
St. Vincent and the Grenadines. ECTEL is the regulating body for telecommunications in its
Member States and the world’s only multi-state telecommunications regulator.
Source: NTRC
NTRC ICT NEWSLETTER ISSUE #61 May 2015
THE NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY COMMISSION
ECTEL celebrates 15 years.
Promotions for the NTRC’s 3rd Annual Ideas and Innovation Competition are underway
The National Telecommunications Regulatory
Commission (NTRC) has started its promotion for
its 3rd Annual Ideas and Innovation Competition
(i2 Competition). The Commission has visited
several schools that have never participated to
get an opportunity to speak to students about the
nature of the competition and how they can
benefit from participating. Students were also
enlightened about the various prizes available
and plan to start brainstorming ideas for entering
the competition. Registration for the competition is
scheduled to be opened on September 10, 2015
and closes October 9, 2015.
The NTRC’s i2 competition is intended to give
students an opportunity to change the world by
using their imagination and creativity to showcase
their inclination towards innovation. The
Competition encourages students from various
secondary and tertiary institutions to put forward
ideas that can implement new systems or improve
systems in the departments within the public
service of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and
other state agencies that provide services to the
public. Such improvements can lead to cost
savings or result in a faster delivery of service
provided by the departments.
Students can win up to EC$3,500 in prizes and
the school with most entries can win EC$1,000.
The NTRC also visits these schools to educate
students about the function of the NTRC, projects
implemented by the Universal Service Fund and
Cyber Security related matters.
Source: NTRC
Grenada launches business grants for innovators and entrepreneurs at CARCIP Awareness Day
Innovators and entrepreneurs in
Grenada can now benefit from a
suite of new grant funding
opportunities.
The Grenada Ministry of
Communications, Works,
Physical Development, Public
Utilities, ICT and Community
Development launched the
business grants and outline the
application process at an event
called CARCIP Awareness Day.
“Innovative firms and individual drive new products,
processes and services that create growth and employment.
Innovation boosts productivity, which is the key to faster
economic growth and rising living standards,” said Alice Bain,
who coordinates the Caribbean Regional Communications
Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) in Grenada.
The Grenada government, through CARCIP, has promoted
collaboration between industry experts, the private sector and
government to generate new opportunities for technology-
enabled businesses.
Held at the Grenada Trade Centre Annex on May 19, the
event started with an opening ceremony at 9.30 am, and
continued with interactive sessions throughout the afternoon.
A slate of technology experts shared perspectives on the
potential of telecommunications technology to transform
regional business, government and society.
“Technology is a cross cutting sector and has implications for
all individuals and businesses. The fact is that the Internet is
growing rapidly and no one should be left behind,” Bain said.
The event is part of the wider ongoing effort by the Grenada
government to support Internet-based economic growth,
under the umbrella of CARCIP. The objective of CARCIP is to
increase access to regional broadband networks and
advance the development of an ICT-enabled services
industry in the Caribbean Region.
Funded by the International Development Association of the
World Bank and coordinated by the Caribbean
Telecommunications Union, CARCIP seeks to help
governments and private sector to harmonise the
development of critical telecommunications infrastructure
across three participating Eastern Caribbean countries—
Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Source: Silicon Caribe
Ms. Shanka Edwards (USF Project Officer) at NTRC speaking to a student about the i2 competition.
ISPs sign IXP MOU in Barbados
Three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Barbados
Internet Exchange (BARIX).
Representatives of Cable and Wireless (Barbados) Limited,
Digicel (Barbados) Limited and Columbus Barbados were all
signatories to the document.
Minister responsible for Telecommunications, Senator Darcy
Boyce congratulated the companies on reaching consensus
on the issue, noting that establishing the Barbados Internet
Exchange Point (IXP) would bring great benefits to Barbados,
including reduced costs, improved network capacity and
cyber security.
The result of the Barbados IXP is that locally-generated
internet traffic destined for local recipients will no longer have
to go via the Internet Exchange Point in Miami, but will be
done locally.
Boyce said that Barbados would also be able to improve the
speed of communication with its Caribbean neighbours as
more of them establish their own IXPs. Grenada, Haiti, Cuba,
Dominica and St. Lucia are among countries which already
have IXPs.
Chief Financial Officer at Cable and Wireless Patrick Hinkson
described the initiative as an important step for Barbados,
and promised that customers would experience vastly
improved connectivity.
Niall Sheehy, Managing Director of Columbus Barbados,
added that the establishment of BARIX was a major step
towards positioning Barbados competitively, while Mark
Linehan of Digicel said he looked forward to the advantages
that BARIX would bring to Barbados.
Chief Telecommunications Officer in the Telecommunications Unit, Reginald Bourne, said the new exchange will be formally launched at the end of May 2015.
Source: Caribbean360
Caribbean among slowest in the world to adopt new Internet standard
With its high penetration,
heavy consumption and
hefty fees, the Caribbean
provides Internet service
providers (ISPs) with some
of their best-paying
customers. The region’s
Average Return Per User
rates, called ARPUs, are among the world’s highest.
But if you live in the Caribbean, the greatest obstacle
standing between you and the next big evolution of the
Internet could be that ISP you’re paying so handsomely.
The next generation of the web is already here, and it’s
called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6. Internet
Protocol addresses are the unique numeric addresses
assigned to any device that sends or receives information
over the Internet. The current protocol, IPv4, does not
have the amount of address space necessary to deal with
the rapidly increasing number of connected devices—
smartphones, watches, tablets, laptops communicating
online.
Allocation ≠ Adoption
As the stock of available IPv4 addresses approaches
depletion, IPv6 deployment is being encouraged by the
two regional Internet registries with responsibility for the
Caribbean—the American Registry for Internet Numbers
(ARIN) and the Internet Addresses Registry for Latin
America and the Caribbean (LACNIC). In a pair of
exclusive interviews with the Guardian, top officials from
ARIN and LACNIC discussed Caribbean ISP's slow rate
IPv6 deployment.
Leslie Nobile, Senior Director of Global Registry
Knowledge at ARIN, told the Guardian that about 43% of
ARIN's Internet Service Provider (ISP) members in the
Caribbean had already received their IPv6
allocations. That figure compares well with the percentage
of allocations already given to ARIN's U.S. and Canadian
ISP members, about 47%.
However, LACNIC chief technology officer Carlos
Martinez told the Guardian that, compared to their North
American neighbours, Caribbean ISPs have been
relatively slow to actually deploy the new
technology. Studies on Internet traffic show a global
average IPv6 adoption rate of around five per cent, while
the region lags at less than one per cent, he said.
Source: Guardian via ICT Pulse
Representatives of Cable and Wireless (Barbados) Limited; Digicel (Barbados) Limited; and Columbus Barbados signing the MOU.
Contact Us National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission
2nd Floor NIS Building, Upper Bay Street Kingstown
St. Vincent
Tel: 784-457-2279
Fax: 784-457-2834
Email:ntrc@ntrc.vc
Website: www.ntrc.vc
China to spend over £100bn to boost internet by end of 2017 China will spend more than $182bn (£117bn, €163bn) to
boost internet speeds by end-2017, a top government
body has said.
The government will invest more than CN¥430bn
($69.3bn) this year on network construction, according to
the State Council, with at least another CN¥700bn spent
over the following two years.
The aim is to expedite the development of fibre optic
broadband and high speed 4G mobile networks, the
governing body said on its website.
On 19 May, China unveiled a vision for the next stage of
its economic ascent, moving from low-tech manufacturing
to advanced industry in areas such as space, e-
commerce, renewable energy and bioengineering by 2025.
Earlier this month, China's three state-owned wireless
carriers -- China Mobile, China Unicom (Hong Kong) and
China Telecom Corp -- said they will cut mobile data prices
and boost data speeds this year, potentially triggering a
mass migration of customers to more lucrative 4G
contracts.
Li, addressing the opening of China's rubber-stamp
parliamentary meeting in Beijing, in March, outlined
China's "Internet Plus" strategy, which includes promoting
cloud computing, online banking, mobile internet, along
with logistics to aid e-commerce expansion.
He also stressed the need for more state investment in the
internet sector.
China ranked 82nd in the world for average internet
connection speed, slower than Malaysia, Thailand and
Taiwan, according to cloud computing services provider
Akamai's State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter
of 2014.
Source: IBTimes
NTRC SVG @ntrcsvg
Nearly half of the global population will be using the internet by the end of this year
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body, predicts that 3.2 billion people will be online. The population currently stands at 7.2 billion.
About 2 billion of those will be in the developing world, the report added.
But just 89 million will be in countries such as Somalia and Nepal.
These are part of a group of nations described as "least developed countries" by the United Nations, with a combined population of 940 million.
There will also be more than 7 billion mobile device subscriptions, the ITU said.
It found that 78 out of 100 people in the US and Europe already use mobile broadband, and 69% of the world has 3G coverage - but only 29% of rural areas are served.
Africa lags behind with just 17.4% mobile broadband penetration.
By the end of the year 80% of households in developed countries and 34% of those in developing countries will have internet access in some form, the report continued.
The study focused on the growth of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector over the past 15 years.
In the year 2000 there were just 400 million internet users worldwide, it said - an eighth of the current figure.
"ICTs will play an even more significant role in the post 2015 development agenda and in achieving future sustainable development goals as the world moves faster and faster towards a digital society."
Source: BBC
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